Cairns was on the ice when Roberts went after Czerkawski! Humongous big deterrent right there. Roberts was so scared of the repercussions of what may happen going after a skill guy... so scared he went after a skilled guy? If guys are going to do that they are going to do it anyway and won't be deterred by Heavy Weights on the ice or on the bench. The fact is that doesn't happen much anymore. And like I said even if it does happen, there will not be a deterrent factor.

Terrible example. Toronto had so much more fire power then we did toughness wise that year. They bullied us like children, Cairns alone could not handle all the leafs toughness.
There was a reason after that series in the offseason the Isles toughened up by adding Jason Weimer,Arron Asham and Eric Godard to the team to counter the leafs.

At the time we played the leafs Cairns was our lone HW and the Leafs had Tie Domi,Wade Belak, Shane Corson along with dirt dag fighters Darcy Tucker and Gary Roberts even Mcabe was a dirt bag that series.
Why would Roberts care about Cairns? He has Domi, Belak or Corson to take care of Cairns. I dont think Roberts would have been running around that series if he did not have his HW goon buddies sitting next to him.